Jae LeVine and the high-flying Wolf softball sluggers are 14-2 after ten-running Klahowya Monday afternoon. (John Fisken photo)
The tide has completely turned.
Last year Klahowya swept Coupeville on the softball field, winning three games while outscoring their foes 32-8.
Jump forward to the rain-spattered spring of 2017 and it’s the Wolves chance to roar.
Pounding the ball with glee Monday, CHS ran the Eagles off the prairie to a 12-2 tune in a game called in the sixth inning due to the mercy rule, giving the Wolves their own three-game sweep.
Having outscored Klahowya 24-10 this season, Coupeville jumps to 5-2 in Olympic League play, 14-2 overall.
The win clinches at least second place for the Wolves — their best finish in the three-year history of the conference — while keeping alive a shot at winning a league title.
Now, all they need is for Wednesday to play out to perfection.
If the Wolves whack Port Townsend (0-7, 0-12) on the road and Klahowya knocks off Chimacum (6-1, 8-3) for a second time this season, everything would come down to one game.
That would be May 8 at Chimacum, with two 6-2 teams playing in a winner-take-all finale.
If the Cowboys hold off Klahowya Wednesday, they clinch their third-straight title, as they hold a tiebreaker over Coupeville, having handed the Wolves their only losses this season.
Regardless of what happens two days from now, Monday was a slice of heaven for Cow Town fans.
Bouncing back from a narrow loss at Chimacum Friday, the Wolves dismantled Klahowya behind junior hurler Katrina McGranahan, who made a firm statement for league MVP consideration.
With the two teams having exchanged first-inning runs — Sarah Wright mashed an RBI triple to right to plate Coupeville’s tally — the game was decided in the third.
In the top half, the Eagles scraped out a run to take a brief 2-1 lead and had the bags juiced with two outs, looking for a breakout hit.
Instead, McGranahan, pacing around the circle like a bull anxious to break out of its pen, reared back and fired BB’s, gunning down the key hitter for the fifth of her nine strikeouts.
With their spark lit, the Wolves promptly exploded in the bottom half of the inning, sending 13 batters to the plate and bringing nine of them around.
It started with Lauren Rose drilling a ball to the left side of the infield, then scampering down the line to beat the throw.
With Mouse on the loose, the Klahowya fielder rushed her throw and airmailed it over first, allowing Rose to pick up two bags on what had at first seemed like a likely out.
And the Wolves were off.
Jae LeVine wore a pitch to put two on, then the big boppers started swinging for the fences.
McGranahan cracked a two-run triple, Wright fired a cannon-shot of an RBI single right back up the middle and Veronica Crownover lashed a shot to left that caught Klahowya mitt and skidded loose.
When they weren’t rockin’ big hits, the Wolves were being creative and smart on the base-paths.
Fab frosh Scout Smith, pinch-running for Wright, zipped home on a ground-out by Hope Lodell, diving at the last millisecond to slide just under the throw.
Coupeville kept on putting runners on base — Tiffany Briscoe collected the latest in a season-long string of bruises, wearing a pitch, while Tamika Nastali dropped a bunt that froze everyone in place as she joyfully bolted across the bag — and bringing them home.
Making their second plate appearances of the inning, Rose chopped a two-run single, LeVine’s speed forced another Klahowya error and McGranahan closed the assault with a two-run single.
With the score having gone from 2-1 Klahowya to 10-2 Coupeville seemingly in the blink of an eye, the Eagles wilted.
Throwing heat, and getting some interesting, but successful, defensive gems behind her, McGranahan was virtually untouchable the rest of the way.
She went 1-2-3 in both the fourth and sixth, while surrendering just a walk and an infield single in the fifth.
Behind her, McGranahan’s teammates played spotless defense, while still giving coach Kevin McGranahan a few butterflies in the pit of his stomach.
Nastali pulled down a huge catch in right, while Crownover was a standout all afternoon while patrolling first base.
She snagged a hard-hit liner to open the game, flawlessly pulled a low throw out of the dirt to save another out and denied Klahowya’s last gasp with an unassisted force.
Wolf shortstop Mikayla Elfrank snagged a rapidly-dropping liner, pulling it off of the top of her shoelaces, while LeVine pulled off the circus catch of the day.
“Flash” had already made another noteworthy catch, jumping skyward to flag down a high pop behind second in the third inning, but opened the sixth with a one-woman show.
Sprinting to her left, LeVine came into contact with the ball as it tumbled from the skies on a quirky popup, then bounced it off several body parts — all while still on the move — somehow successfully pinning it against her leg at the last moment.
Perfect proof that when things are going right, in a game or during a season, anything is possible.
Coupeville kept its collective foot pressed down on the gas pedal, scoring two more to send the Eagles home early.
The final run, big on the (non-working) scoreboard and even bigger psychologically as it ten-runned a traditional power, started with a thunderous double from Crownover.
Pinch-runner Kyla Briscoe came around to score on a passed ball, setting off the latest in a season-long run of celebratory post game sing-alongs by the Wolves.
The good times roll on.
